UNLIMITED SPEED

Noah's eyes fell on a series of scantly positioned buildings, most of the place being filled with lush vegetation. Though this didn't surprise him, it was a village after all.

Most of the buildings he saw looked to be built out of wood, and were small in size, while the few that weren't made of wood, were built with stone, but were also small.

The village itself was actually large in size as Noah couldn't cover its entirely with his mental consciousness since it stretched for about 18 kilometers in radius.

'There must be a lot of humans here,' Noah thought.

Many eyes fell on him upon his entry, but they quickly looked away before his gaze could meet theirs.

An air of gloominess permeated the whole environment, and the eyes of the adults he saw looked on edge, like they were constantly afraid of something.

He didn't understand the reason for this, so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

Noah felt a bit surprised at what his senses picked up when he Inspected the power of the villagers around him. Most of the villagers radiated tier 1 power, only few having power up to tier 2, which was incredibly low.

After a few minutes of walking through the village, Noah realized that the more he walked towards where the cultivators led him, the farther they got from the village buildings.

Eventually the trio arrived in front of 6ft wooden wall, that looked to have been constructed circularly, and spanned for at least a kilometer or so in radius, and inside of it was what looked like a big wooden cabin.

Noah's consciousness spread while he waited for the duo, who conversed with someone.

His mental waves tried to Inspect the contents of the walled space, but they got pushed back by an unknown force when they tried to go past the rectangular building.

Confusion spread in Noah's mind at that point, while he tried to break past the invisible limitations that appeared to exist somewhere there.

A few seconds passed and Noah didn't manage to go past the building's edge.

"You won't be able to," A man's voice spread in Noah's head, while he felt another consciousness interact with his.

"Why don't you come in first," The person said. A bit of worry spread inside Noah's mind at that point. He honestly didn't expect the village head to have power in the realm of tier 3.

"Please come with us," The earth mage said to Noah, who returned his focus to the cultivators.

Glancing at the open section in wall, Noah nod his head and walked into the compound, his mind and body on alert since he felt the gaze of the village head.

The trio arrived at the front door, and it swung open by itself. Noah glanced at the cultivators a second later, but it appeared they weren't going to come with him.

"He only wants to meet you," The water mage bowed, "We shall remain outside here," The earth mage added.

Noah could only nod at those words, a slight sigh escaping his mouth. Taking a step into the house, Noah kept a cold expression when the door shut behind him.

Walking down what looked like a passage, Noah arrived inside a well lit room, and inside the room, was a man sitting behind a table with a smile on his face.

"Come. Sit," The man promptly gestured at the chair before him. Noah simply walked towards the table, while inspecting the man.

The village head, looked younger than the two cultivators outside, but older than Noah. He appeared to be in his mid thirties, and his eyes featured dark spots and wrinkles. He looked to be exhausted.

The man had short black hair that was neatly groomed and oiled, giving him a professional look, a neatly shaved beard and on his body was a grey garment that shone with similarly coloured inscriptions.

To Noah's surprise the man had an orange core that looked like it was about to break into the next rank. A body that Noah would call a peak glass stage body, and a powerful tier 3 mind.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jon, the head of the village, Enil," Jon's voice rang out, his hand stretching out for an hand shake.

Noah glanced at the outstretched hand for a few milliseconds, before his mouth opened to release words, "I am Will, a lone traveler," Noah made up a name on the spot, and shook the hand.

"Ah. Thank you Mr Will. I heard from my trainees that you helped them eradicate the tier 3 threat on the outside," Jon sepearated his hand from Noah's.

"I truly wish I could have done it myself, but I have bigger matters here," Jon spread his arms up, then his eyes fell on Noah.

He tried to Inspect the man young man sitting before him, but he found that his senses were only able to ascertain his level in the lower stage of tier 3, nothing more.

A look of surprise tried to pierce his smiling face, but he had great control over his emotions.

Noah noticed this inspection, but only showed a cold face at it, he expected that much from a village head.

"No need to worry sir. I was only helping what seemed to be a bad situation," Noah replied.

A sigh escaped Jon's mouth at that point, "I'm sure you noticed how weak they were, but truly you can't blame them. They've been in this village far longer than I have, and had been stuck in the middle stage of tier 2 for year's, until over twenty years ago that I arrived here did I begin to help them, and they managed to advance just a few months ago," Jon explained with a reminiscing smile.

"I give them a few months and they'll get the hang of it. They are very hard-working after all," Jon added.

Noah could only shake his head, and try to form a pitiful face, but failed miserably.

A laugh suddenly rang out of Jon's mouth, startling Noah. "I didn't mean to garner your pity Mr Will. I was simply telling you why they weren't enough to kill the beast," Jon explained.

A tinge of embarrassment spread in Noah's mind at that point, his left hand going to scratch his head due to that, which caused Jon to laugh more.

"Can I be on my way," Noah eventually asked after Jon was done laughing.

"You can. Though I do have a question for you Mr Will," Jon announced.

Seeing Noah's nod he continued, "Did you encounter a party of six on your way here?," Jon asked with a smile.

Noah furrowed his brows at those words, as he knew what the man was talking about.

"No I didn't," Noah stated.

"Hmmm. I don't think you are telling the truth," Jon suddenly replied.

Feeling a bit curious, Noah opened his mouth to talk, "Why do you think so?."

Jon smiled at that question but instead of replying with an answer, he dropped a new question.

"Mr Will, where did you get your attire from," He asked with a polite tone.

Noah frowned this time around, his eyes glancing at the clothes he wore before he replied. With a lie of course.

"I bought it from the town I began my journey from," Noah announced.

Jon suddenly burst into laughter at Noah's words, he laughed as though he had heard the best joke Creagar could provide. Needless to say this annoyed Noah, but he kept his cool, it seemed the man had something in his mind.

"That is also a lie Mr Will. You may also be wondering how I'm certain of this, and that would be non other than, because i gave this exact attire to a young man in party of six that passed through my village just a few days ago. This attire comes directly from my closet," Jon explained in a sharp tone, the air in the room turning heavy.

"You've been caught in a lie, Mr Will, and i don't fancy liars," Jon's peak lower-stage aura seeped out of his body, his figure standing up slowly, as he loomed over Noah's dark face.